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March 27, 2007
JAZZ ASPEN SNOWMASS ANNOUNCES A SEASON OF GREAT ARTISTS ACROSS THE AMERICAN MUSICAL LANDSCAPE
Aspen, Co. - March 22, 2007 -- It's simple: Aspen will be jazzed, rocked, stirred and souled out -. with the most diverse summer of great music in its seventeen year history. A now mature organization enjoying critical acclaim and support locally, regionally and nationally, Jazz Aspen Snowmass (JAS) is pleased to announce the lineup for its 2007 summer season. Consistently recognized for its peerless combination of artistic excellence wedded to spectacular venues and world-class hospitality, JAS is now recognized as one of the premier music festivals in the USA, but with a style and feel all its own.
The JAS June Festival presented by Calamos Investments (June 21-24) at Rio Grande Town Park, in downtown Aspen, features on Thursday the 21st, Herbie Hancock with Special Guests Terence Blanchard, Larry Coryell and others TBA with Madeleine Peyroux opening: Friday the 22nd, Earth Wind and Fire, with a past-year JAS Academy Band opening: Saturday the 23rd, Steve Winwood, with Angelique Kidjo opening: and Sunday the 24th, The Black Crowes, with Marcus Miller opening. Following the main stage performances each night, JAS After Dark shows will take place in association with the Belly Up, at the esteemed Aspen nightclub. Artists will be announced at a later date.
In addition to the June Festival performances under the main tent, JAS has partnered with the Aspen Music Festival & School to present An Evening with Wynton Marsalis & Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performing "Congo Square" on Tuesday June 26th at The Benedict Music Tent.
Also in association with the Aspen Music Festival, JAS will present two of the world's leading jazz bassists, Christian McBride (Artistic Director of the JAS Academy) and Edger Meyer, on July 19th at Harris Hall.
Later that week, the JASummerNight Mambo, JAS' National Council education & performance benefit, will take place (Saturday, July 21) at the ABO at Aspen Airport. The event will feature the music of Grammy winning Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval and his Big Band. Sandoval's Mambo Mania performance includes 10 hot horns, 6 dancers and an 18 piece band. The Mambo is presented in association with AEXJet. JAS' flagship all scholarship JAS Academy will also feature performances by vocalist Carla Cook, and the incendiary Afro-Cuban Jazz Funk NYC based Yerba Buena.
There's much, much more. Over Labor Day weekend in Snowmass Town Park, JAS presented by Calamos Investments will present a jam band fan's dream come true: the Allman Brothers Band, Gov't Mule, Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals, Joss Stone, Nickel Creek, and The Derek Trucks Band and Susan Tedeschi, with additional artists tba.
Herbie Hancock (Thursday, 6/21), in the words of the cliché, really requires no introduction. He is, quite simply, an icon of modern American music, and has been the Distinguished Artist in Residence at JAS since 1991. He came to prominence in 1963 at the age of 23, when he recorded a hit song, "Watermelon Man," and then joined one of the great bands in music history, the Miles Davis Quintet that also included Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter, and Ron Carter. Over the next years, Herbie contributed to masterpieces like Seven Steps to Heaven, My Funny Valentine, In a Silent Way, and Bitches Brew. At the same time, he continued his solo career with massive successes like Maiden Voyage, along with composing sound tracks to projects as disparate as Antonioni’s Blow Up and Bill Cosby's Hey Hey It's Fat Albert.
In the 1970s, he created the Head Hunters, and dominated the jazz-funk fusion world with the hit album Chameleon. His 1980s hit, the Grammy-winning "Rockit," remains one of the top-selling jazz singles ever. He also won an Oscar for scoring the film 'Round Midnight. Most recently, in the late '90s he created Gershwin's World, a series of collaborations with an extraordinary range of artists including Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, Kathleen Battle, and old friends Wayne Shorter and Chick Corea. It won three Grammys. The follow up, Possibilities, united him with Sting, Annie Lennox, John Mayer, Christina Aguilera, Paul Simon, and Carlos Santana, among other friends. Late 20th century American music would not be the same without him.
Mr Hancock's program will feature New Orleans trumpeter Terence Blanchard, who came to prominence with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in the 1980s and later played with Lionel Hampton. He has worked on a number of Spike Leefilms, and composed the score for When the Levee Breaks. He carries on the New Orleans trumpet heritage with style and distinction.
Also featured will be Larry Coryell, among the most distinctive players in jazz history, uniting rock and eastern music with the basics of jazz. He has performed and recorded with Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett, Jaco Pastorius, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Chick Corea, among others.
Madeleine Peyroux (Thursday, 6/21) is one of the outstanding young voices in America, eerily echoing the sound of Billie Holiday in songs that range from folk to blues to jazz to contemporary pop. Her brilliant 1996 debut album, Dreamland, which featured young jazz players like James Carter, Marc Ribot, and Cyrus Chestnut, sold remarkably well for an unknown on an independent label, and featured tunes by Bessie Smith, Fats Waller, and Peyroux herself. Her followup, Careless Love, included more contemporary tunes, including Bob Dylan’s "You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome," as well as Hank Williams’ "Weary Blues." Her latest album, Half the Perfect World, includes tunes by Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, and Joni Mitchell. She is one of the special voices working today.
Earth Wind and Fire (Friday, 6/22) was created by drummer and songwriter Maurice White in the early 1970s. Starting from a funk foundation, they added touches of jazz, blues, pop, soul, and gospel to create some of the outstanding R & B of the decade. Vocalist Philip Bailey crooned ballads and up-tempo rockers, and they recorded hit after hit: "Shining Star," "Reasons," "Sing a Song," as well as White's tune recorded by the Emotions, "Best of My Love." But EWF became legendary for more than their recorded output – their ability to play, shifting from jazz to ballad to funk, was stupendous, and their stage shows became more elaborate than anything in the business, a nightly pageant that has never been surpassed. You have not seen anything until you see and hear an EWF show.
One of JAS'fundamental commitments is nurturing jazz through education; the JAS Academy Summer Sessions takes place each July and features some of the finest young players in the country. The chance to spend time in heaven - Aspen - doing nothing but playing and learning from great teachers produces wonderful music. This June JAS will bring back one of the most talented JAS Academy Bands to come through the program to open for Earth Wine and Fire on Friday.
Steve Winwood (Saturday, 6/23) is one of the signature rock voices of all time. Bursting into rock and roll history in 1966 with his lead vocal on the Spencer Davis Group’s "Gimme Some Loving," he went on to form the classic group Traffic, singing such wonderful songs as "Dear Mr. Fantasy, and "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys." In 1969, he formed the legendary supergroup Blind Faith with Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Rick Grech. His "Can't Find My Way Home" was among the band's most memorable songs.
After guest appearances on albums by Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, and Howlin' Wolf, he began an illustrious solo career, in 1981 releasing Arc of the Diver, with its hit song "While You See A Chance." Having played all the instruments as well as the vocals, one might have expected to rest a bit. Instead, in 1986 he released Back in the High Life Again; the single of that name did well - and "Higher Love" went to #1. His most recent album, About Time, focuses on his magical Hammond B-3 playing and soulful vocals - and audiences have responded as Winwood has come full circle, from blues to pop to blues once more.
Opening for Winwood will be Angelique Kidjo, an extraordinary vocalist born in Benin, who fuses Afropop, Jazz, Gospel, and Latin influences – along with the five languages; Fon, French, English, Yoruba, and a personal language - that she sings in to create a totally unique music. Her extraordinary renditions of Gershwin and Jimi Hendrix only hint at the breadth of her interests. Her next album, Djin Djin (out 5/1/07) will include collaborations with Josh Groban, Carlos Santana, Peter Gabriel, and Branford Marsalis.
The Black Crowes will close the Festival on Sunday night with their trademark high-powered blues-based rock. Led by brothers Chris (vocals) and Rich Robinson (guitars), the Crowes have come a very long way since their 1980s origins in Atlanta. Their first album, 1990's Shake Your Money Maker, featured a sizzling cover of the Otis Redding tune "Hard to Handle", and five million sales later they'd arrived. Over the years they've toured with bands like Aerosmith, Oasis, AC-DC and Lenny Kravitz. They recorded Live at the Greek with one of their major influences, Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page. After enduring the usual ups and downs of rock and a spell of inactivity, they reunited last year and seem, to all ears, better than ever. The tent will be shaking-
Marcus Miller will open for the Crowes. Miller is among the stars of a rising generation of fretless electric jazz bassists, succeeding the legendary Jaco Pastorius. His work with artists as varied as David Sanborn, Miles Davis, and Luther Vandross indicate his versatility and skills - he's simply stunning.
Wynton Marsalis, who has a long history of performance at JAS, will now bring his masterwork "Congo Square" to Aspen. In antebellum America, French New Orleans' Congo Square was quite literally the only place in the entire country where slaves could gather and freely play African music - drumming, dancing, singing – since elsewhere, the sound of drums was regarded as menacing and threatening to the slaveholder's social order. "Congo Square" fuses African-American jazz, both instrumental and vocal, and African drumming, in a rich, if tragic, multi-cultural panoply. Mr. Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will be joined by Ghanian master drummer Yacub Addy and his nine-piece Ghanian percussion ensemble, Odadaa!
This season's festival sponsors include title sponsor Calamos Investments, host sponsors The Town of Snowmass Village, the Silvertree Hotel, Centre of the Rockies, Miller Genuine Draft, AEXJet, The Denver Post, Comcast and CME. Other sponsors include US Bank, SkinCeuticals, KSPN, Bombay Sapphire and Jazz Times.
Tickets for both Festivals will go on sale to the public on Monday, April 2.
For more information on all JAS Summer Events please visit www.jazzaspen.org.
For one stop shopping; Jazz Aspen Tickets & Passes, Lodging and air please visit www.stayaspensnowmass.com
Posted by Dina at March 27, 2007 12:55 PM
